The Union health ministry said on Saturday that India’s mammoth vaccination drive against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) was successful. With 1,91,181 people given the shot during the first day of the program , no one was hospitalized after being given the Covid-19 vaccine said an official of the health ministry.
There were 16,755 personnel involved in the vaccination drive across India at 3,351 sessions held across the country with both the vaccines during the drive, the official said. Covishield, the Oxford University-AstraZenexa shot being manufactured by Serum Institute of India, was supplied to all states and Union territories and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin was sent to 12 states, he added.
There was a delay in uploading beneficiary list at some session sites and healthcare workers not scheduled for the first day were vaccinated but resolutions were provided for both the issues, the official said.
A worker at Delhi’s premier All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Manish Kumar, was the first person in India to be vaccinated against Covid-19, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched one of the world’s largest immunisation campaigns to bring the pandemic under control. AIIMS director Randeep Guleria and NITI Aayog’s VK Paul were also given the shots in the presence of Union health minister Harsh Vardhan.
After the vaccination of some 30 million healthcare and frontline workers, about 270 million people older than 50 or deemed high-risk because of pre-existing medical conditions will be given the shot during the country’s vaccination drive.
More than 10.5 million people in India have been infected with the coronavirus, the highest number of infections after the United States, and more than 152,000 have died.
A watchful eye has to be kept on the persons who have received Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin as it is still in the third phase of clinical trials.
Report- Vikas Chandra Agrawal